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Ask HN: Finding the right startup job for me?
Looking for some general advice from the crowd.
I'm thinking about holding off my entrepreneurial ideas and getting some experience working for a start-up before going off on my own again after a few years there.
My biggest problem is I'm a super generalist and I don't have major super-specialized skills. I'm no master RoR/PHP/etc hacker nor am I that great with puzzles which the job ad's seem to want. I have the skills to probably use any language (as long as they are based on a machine that uses modern computer architecture) but I'm no super expert. I've also spent quite a lot of time learning human psychology & politics if that helps in any way during the hiring process.
Most my knowledge of my current language, C#, came from watching Anders videos as well as general personal experience which teaches me the pitfalls of the theory. This makes me more of a big picture person who stares at the blueprints from above and plans my attacks from there. Because of this, it will take some time for me to catch up to the status quo of the organization. In a way, if I get hired, I'll probably be the dumbest person in the organization since well, that's how I work.
Sure, I could send my resume out to all of them but that feels like shooting ducks hoping I will hit a geese. There's got to be a better way.
What do you think the best way to find a startup job where someone like me would be useful in some way for them?
- ddrmaxgt37 15y agoHave you made anything before? Startups usually are looking for smart people. Showing past projects and technical challenges you have overcome is an easy way to show off how smart you are. I personally feel like resumes, and linked.in profiles are pretty useless to everyone but HR departments and recruiters.
- diminium 15y agoThanks for the compliment but I'm not that smart :( I wish I was but there is so much to this world that it's hard for me to figure it all out. I made stuff but they are rather boring. Things like web framework, API Libraries, etc. People call it reinventing the wheel! Out of all this the toughest one was designing a general purpose core API that's going to be used over and over again in said framework. Trying to design a set of libraries that can be changed years from now is insanely difficult but somehow worthwhile. It made me appreciate things like the "dot" notation and how wrong it could have gone but it's hard to market simplicity when everyone else is marketing complex stuff. Then again, I suppose that's why people join startups. They like solving complex stuff. I like solving simple stuff or at least try to make the world a more simple place. I suppose I could do a Minimally Viable Product where I clone something that exists and try to make it better but then I'll be putting on my entrepreneurial hat again!
- orky56 15y agoJust FYI there's more to entrepreneurship than just creating an MVP. It involves customer development, fundraising, etc to create a business as opposed to just a side project. If you go to a startup and do product type work, you'll have a chance to put your skills to use and will get to create things. Having a varied skill set is an asset not a liability. However if you can't use those skills to execute and focus, then you get the negative term of being a generalist.